


Reunion

by copper_wasp



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/M, Smooching, Spoilers for Post-Timeskip | War Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2020-10-07 22:00:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20469002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/copper_wasp/pseuds/copper_wasp
Summary: Short re-write of Claude and Byleth's reunion at Garreg Mach after the time skip.





	Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> I was dissatisfied with their reunion post time-skip, so I decided to rewrite it a bit! Some of the dialogue is taken from the game, and others I changed to suit how I wanted the story to go.
> 
> Also posted to my [tumblr](https://copper-wasp.tumblr.com/post/187406731835/claude-von-riegan-x-fem-byleth-reunion)!

It was dark when Byleth fell, and equally as dark when she woke. Suffocating darkness. Until the one crack of light filtered in. She wanted to turn away from it, stay in the blackness, but Sothis’s voice pulled her up towards it.

“Must I do everything for you?” she had asked in a sing-song, taunting voice and if Byleth could have locked their matching eyes, she’d have rolled her set at the goddess.

“Wake up, dear heart,” she had said, “Wake.”

Byleth came to, drenched, with a friendly face in front of hers. She didn’t recognize the man, but he hadn’t killed her... yet, so she tentatively categorized him as an ally.

His clothes were dirty, and there was a sadness in his eyes that he tried to mask as he asked if she was okay. She nodded, squeezing the water out of her hair and her long sleeves. She stretched her stiff body, blood flowing slow as molasses in her veins, skin cold and clammy from being in the water.

“What are you doing in a place like this? Gotta say, I wasn’t expecting to find someone floating down the river when I woke up this morning,” the man asked, and Byleth willed her brain into submission, trying to remember anything, any details, but she was met with fog.

“The... the Monastery....” she mumbled, a hand to her forehead.

“The monastery’s been abandoned, remember? Almost five years now,” the man said, looking wistfully above her head.

Byleth’s eyes widened, “Five years? What do you mean five years?” Has she really been asleep for _five years?_

“Are you... sure you’re okay? Did you hit your head? It’s the Ethereal Moon, year 1185. Five years since the monastery fell to the Empire.”

Byleth wanted to sit down, but her body was uncooperative, legs stiff as she listened to the man talk.

“The Millennium festival was supposed to be tomorrow, but with the war and the Archbishop still missing, who has time to think about that, you know? I doubt anyone has enough blessings worth counting.”

_Rhea is missing? Where could she have gone...? If she’s only missing, that means she isn’t dead. I have to find her. But not before I find him._

Byleth had heard enough. She forced her legs to turn herself away from the man, taking purposeful steps towards the Monastery.

“Hey! Wait! You aren’t going to the Monastery, are you? There’s thieves and brigands and all sorts of unsavory individuals there!”

“I’m sorry, but I have to go!” she called over her shoulder.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you! It’s not on my conscience if you wind up dead!” she heard faintly, still striding away from him. _If I end up dead,_ she thought sardonically to herself.

Byleth knew she wasn’t invincible, but for some reason, Death had spared her yet again. She may have been asleep for five years, but she was not going to waste the gift that the goddess had bestowed upon her.

* * *

The stab to her heart as she entered Garreg Mach was nearly unbearable. Abandonment shone on the face of every building in the village, grey and dusty. Flora had taken over when the humans had left, verdant and green and horrible. Looking skyward, she spotted the crumbling monastery, a dark stain against the neutral sky, no signs of life meeting her gaze.

Byleth forced her legs to move, willing the resistance out of them with each heavy step. She had to hold on to the hope that he was there, lighting up the ruin with that smile of his. Like he’d promised. Like she’d promised. There would be no point to any of this if he was gone.

The memories began to slowly creep back in as she made her way through the village; grocery trips with Ignatz, taking Raphael out to lunch and instantly regretting it, leaving with a substantially lighter purse, or Hilda forcing her to give her honest opinion on every new hair accessory she tried on. A bitterness was creeping in, that hatred for the Empire and their destruction sparking back into life, but Byleth hastily pushed those thoughts to the side, focused on one thing.

The stairs leading up to the monastery had never looked so daunting, except for perhaps when she had first arrived with Jeralt, a skilled but still naïve mercenary with little care for anything beyond herself and her father. Byleth had come to terms with his death a long time ago, but it was still another sin of the Empire, another unnecessary loss.

She took the first step. And another. Then a third, until she was nearly running, damp clothes airing out behind her. If he was here, he’d be in the tallest tower, closest to the sun. She hurried, trying to calm her nerves, while simultaneously pushing down her hopes that he was here. It had been five years, five years of war, while she was asleep, and anything could have happened. She feared the worst, but part of her knew he wouldn’t go down so easy.

She pushed open the door with a loud creak, eyes scanning the room. Byleth blinked hard when her eyes landed on his form, just to make sure he was truly there.

“Claude?” she said, probably a little too quietly, but he turned his head all the same.

“Hey,” he said, still looking at her from across the room. “You made it, Teach.”

Byleth could feel the tears welling in her eyes, and she dug her nails into her palms to help will them away. She opened her mouth to say something, but no words would form. Instead, her legs carried her to him, nearly at a sprint until she crashed into his open arms. Throwing her arms around his neck, he twirled her around effortlessly, his hands tight on her waist.

Byleth didn’t let go of him for a long while after he set her down, scared to look into his eyes. Instead she pressed her face against his unarmored shoulder, breathing in his scent, cloves and dust and something else that she imagined was sunshine. He was taller than she remembered, but then again, her memory was in as much of a ruin as the monastery, and she had to tilt her chin up to look at him when her courage finally returned.

The years had aged him wonderfully; gone were his round boyish features, replaced with sharp, distinctive lines. His hair was longer, but still unruly, pushed back as to not hinder his vision. His eyes were the same, though, sage green pools that Byleth had often caught herself staring into, whether Claude realized it or not.

He was smiling at her, letting her look him over, turning his head left and right so she could see all of him. Byleth stifled her grin, giving his shoulders a comforting squeeze. He still hadn’t let her go, warm hands keeping her close to him.

“I was starting to think no one else would show up,” he began, tucking a damp strand of hair behind her ear. “But I knew I could count on you. I... could _always_ count on you. Whenever I need you the most, there you are.” He had a wistful look on his face, like all of his memories of the time they had spent together were rushing back at once.

Byleth wanted to tell him everything, ask him _everything_, but she couldn’t think of where to start. He must’ve read her expression, because she soon felt his hand on her chin, tilting it up gently to look at him once again.

“Byleth,” he said and her lips parted, sucking in a gasp of breath. He’d never called her by her name before. “Thank you.”

She wasn’t expecting him to press his lips against hers, and her hands tensed on his shoulders. She let her eyes flutter shut, Claude’s hand moving to her neck, his thumb brushing soothingly over her jaw. She knew it was just her imagination, but she could’ve sworn his lips tasted like tea; Almyran pine, his favorite. Byleth let her fingertips play with the ends of his hair, stepping even closer into his embrace. She hooked a hand around his waist, tilting her head to fit her lips perfectly against his. The final piece of the puzzle, nestled in perfectly next to its mate.

The sun shifted, a single ray breaking over the top of the rubble, shining against their faces. Claude broke away, nuzzling his nose against Byleth’s before giving her one last sweet peck.

“Would you like to join me for some tea, Teach?” he asked with a smile, and Byleth smiled back. For a moment there wasn’t a war, the merchant of death had put away his scythe, and there was only the two of them.

“I would love that, Claude.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> Find me on:  
Tumblr: [copper-wasp](https://copper-wasp.tumblr.com/)  
Twitter: [copper_wasp_](https://twitter.com/copper_wasp_)


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